Boot and shoe nailing machine



(No Model.) a Sheets-Sheet 1. S. SHEPHERD.

BOOT AND SHOE NAILING MAOHINE.

NQ..272,486. 'Patented V .1883.

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BOOT AND sEoE NAILING MAGHINE; E No. 272,486; Patented-Feb. 20,1883.

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(No Model.)

s. SHEPHERD. BOOT AND SHOE NAILING MACHINE.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUELSHEPHERD, OF NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

BOOT- AND SHOE NAILING MACHINE. I

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 272,486, dated February 20, 1853.

- Application fi1edJu1y21, 1882. (XomodeL) all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL SHEPHERD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Nashua, in the county of Hillsborough and State ot'New Hampshire, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Nailing Boots and Shoes, of which the following is a specification. v

The object of my invention is to provide, in connection with automatic mechanism for setting up a string of headless nails, such as are used for nailing boots and shoes, improved meansfor feeding said string of nails toward the driving mechanism and apparatus for sep arating the individual nails from the string and I driving them successively.

To this end my invention consists in certain impiovements upon the apparatus patented to me the 24th day ofMay, A. D. 1881, No. 242,061. These improvements relate more particularly to the feeding and separating mechanism, the devices for setting up the string of nails being substantially the same as those shown in my said Letters Patent, and therefore not shown in this application.

Referring .to the drawings, Figure 1 is a central longitudinal vertical section. Fig. 2 is a plan view, the plates being removed to show the parts beneath them. Fig. 3 is an elevation o't'theparts shown in Fig.4, taken from the rear of the machine. Fig. 4 is a vertical central section of the parts shown in Fig. 3. Fig.5 is

a detailview ot the die placed in the throat of the machine,through which the nails pass, under the driver: Figs. 6 and 7 are detail views of modified forms of said die. Fig. 8 is a central vertical section taken through one of the cam-shafts in 2, and showing one portion ot'thet'eedingmechanism. Fig.9isaviewofthe under face of the device shown in Fig.8. Fig. 10 is a side elevation of a part of the separating mechanism detached. Fig. 11 is an end elevation, showing a modified form of separat ing apparatus. Fig. 12 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 11, together with part of the advancing or feeding mechanism.

In order to clearly understand the nature and object of. this invention, reference must be made to the specification of my former patent, No. 242,061, in which the form of the nail, together with the automatic mechanism for setting up a string of s'aid nails, is fully shown and described. In that inventionthe nails, as they were separated successively from the advancing string of nails, were thrown into the throat of the machine, wherein they dropped by their own gravity until they rested upon the sole of the boot being nailed, in position to be struck by the plunger.

In the invention now under consideration it is my purpose to separate the nails from each other by positive mechanism, and to hold each nail in the grasp of said mechanism during. every step of the distance through which it travels, whereby the supply of nails to the driver and the position or set of each shall be accurately controlled.

In the drawings annexed hereto, A indicates the frame of the machine, B B being angle plates attached thereto as supports for the bearings of the main shaft 0, which is driven by a suitable pulley, OH D is a miter-gear keyed on said shaft, and meshing with a second miter-gear, D, mounted upon a stud-bearing, D Said gear carries a pinion, D meshing with a pinion, E, whereby motion is given to the vertical shaft L. By means of a second pinion meshing with E, rotary motion in an opposite direction is given to a second and shown in Fig. 1, forward andtoward the driving mechanism. These nails, which are indicated in the drawings by the reference-letter a, as they enter the raceway M, Figs; 1 and 12, in which they are automatically set up by the mechanism shown in my former patent, pass between the finger-bars R It, which are arranged just beneath the plates M, by which the raceway is formed. The nails 11 are supported in the race by their wedgin g sides, which abut a-gainst the edges of the plates M, at such a point that about one-fourth .(i) the length of said nails projects above the plates and three.- fourths(%) below them. Allowing forthe thickness of th raceway-plates, it is evident that the finger-bars will grasp the nails, as they hang in the race, at a point not far from the middle ofsaid nails. The arrangement and operation ofthesc finger-bars it B are shown and described in my former patent of May 24, 1881. Being actuated by the cams G theyareb: ought toward each other and against the string of nails, which is grasped between them. While thus holding the string of nails they move a short distance toward the front of the machine and then separate, reloasingthenails and moving back to take a fresh grasp of the nails andadvancethem anotherstepforward. Each finger-bar is mounted upon and carried by a. plate or carrier bar, R being connected therewith by a pin, 1), passing through the fingerbar and into the carrier, and having a spring, S, coiled upon it and interposed between the linger and the carrier. (See Fig. 2.) These springs allow the fingers to yield when the nails are grasped between them. Each carrier R is actuated by a cam, 0 mounted on and carried by a vertical shalt, L, at or near each end of each carrier. Up to this point my invention is not snbstantiallydiiferent from that shown and covered by my patent already alluded to. I will now describe in what my present improvements consist.

Just above the cam (J and carried by the same shaft, L, is placed a disk, D, Figs. 2, 8, and 9, which is caused to rotate with the shaft by a pin, 0 Fig. 8, on the cam G which engages with said disk. A portion of the upper face of each dish is cut away to form a recess, E Fig. 2, in which is fitted a plate, F The ends of this plate are rounded tocoincide with the periphery of the disk D, and upon one end is formed a flange, 0, projecting downward over the edge of the disk, between which and said flange are placed one or more springs,f, which push the flange away from the edge of the disk, but are adapted to yield to pressure upon its periphery c and permit the plate F to slide in the channel E 'lo permit this motion the central orifice in the plate, through which the shaft L passes, is elongated, as shown atf, Fig. 8.

'io permit the rotation of the disks 1) and the action of the plates F without interfering with the operation of the finger-bars It and It, a circular depression is formed in the carrier-plates R and a corresponding portion of the finger-bar on each side is cut away, so that the upper surfaces of both shall be flush with the upper surface of the disk D and plate F After a string of nails is set up in the manner described in my former patent, they hang in the raceway by their wcdging sides coming into contact with the plates forming said raceway. Here they are fed toward the forward end of the machine by the intermittent action of the finger-bars R R, which grasp the nails between them, carry them forward a distance nearly equal to the throw of the cams which operate said finger-bars, and there leave them, while said fingers are retracted to repeat the operation.

In order to prevent the nails wedgingin the raceway, alifter, N, is placed directly beneath their points,and between each feed movement of the fingers it is raised by a cam, E, and pitman a just far enough to ease the nails in the raceway without throwing them out.

The feed derived from the fingers It R being intermittent,it is desirable to impart to the nails, especially as they approach the separatingand driving mechanism, a more uniform and continuous movement. It is for this purpose that I employ the disks D with their plates F These plates are so arranged that their peripheries c, which register with each other, rotate within the vertical plane of the raceway, and therefore bear against the opposite sides of the nails passing between their peripheries 0. Their rotation is toward the forward end of the machine, and their action upon the nails begins before the latter are grasped by the finger-bars and continues after the nails are released by them. As the nails reach the point.- where they enter between the. curved faces a of the slide-plates F they are gripped between said faces and carried by the rotation of the plates steadily toward the front of the machine, being held between said plates with a yielding contact, owing to the springsf, but with sufficlent force to produce the required movement. As the nails reach the forward end of the raceway itis necessary to take them one by one, separate them from the string of nails in which they stand, and place them individually beneath the driving mechanism. In the present invention I accomplish this separation by means ofa verticallyreciprocating slotted plate, having the plate of such thickness and the slot of such size as to receive a single nail only. This plate is shown at I, Figs. 1, 3, and 4. It is operated by a ring-cam, N, on the main shaft, and an arm, 1", which is pivoted to a projecting portion of the plate. When the shaft 0 revolves, the plate P will rise and fall, sliding in ways (1d upon the uprights D. (See Fig. 3.) it stands against the ends of the raceway-plates M and closes the raceway, except as to a verti cal slot, f formed in said plate. This slot; is so located that when the plate has been raised the forward nail in the string may entcrit, being pushed therein by the pressure of the nails behind, which are fed forward by the feedingdisks and finger-bars. The plate P being of the thickness of the nail and having a solid plate lying behind it, no more nails can enter its slot until the latter is emptied.

Directly in front of the plate 1? stands a second plate, P (Sec Figs. 3 and 4.) At the extreme lower end of-the latter is formed a. slot, 1', in the same vertical plane with the slot f and so arranged that when the plate P is dropped to its lowest point the slot f will ICC coincide with the slotf the plate P being immovable.

, Beneath the lifter N" is placed an ejector, a, which is moved in one direction by spiral springs a", set in apertures in the machineframe and bearing against the ejector. (See Figs. '1, 2, and 10.) Thelatter is a piece of metal having a point, 0 ,01 such thickness that it will enter the slotf in the plate P. as well as pass through the slot f in the plate P This point e is beveled ofi at top and bottom. as shown in Figs. 1 and 10. As the spiral springs a constantly force the ejector forward, the beveled point enters the slot in the plate P as often as said plate descends, and brings the slot opposite it. The movement of the ejector being in a horizoiital plane, the ejector presses against the solid face of the plate P until the lower end ofthe slotf with the nail resting in it, comes opposite the point of the ejector. The point e being beveled. its lower inclined edge will slide upon the bottom of the slotf as the latter descends. and the ejector will therefore enter the slot gradually, striking thepoint of the nail, first pushingit out of theslot f in the separating-plate P, into and through the slotf in the plate P and into the throat t. The head of the nail will remain in the slotf until the plate P descends far enough so that the upper end of said nail can pass the upper end otthe slot f when the ejector will push the whole nail into the throat it. Here it is still held firmly by the ejector until the driver I comes down and forces the nail into the leather. As the plate P begins to rise to take another nail the beveled lower edge of the ejector engages with the lower end of the slot f and thereby draws said ejector out of the slot until its point rests against the solid portion of'the plate. In Fig. 1 the latter position is shown by full lines and each of the other positions by dotted lines.

The driver which forces the nails into the leather is shown at 1, Figs. 3 and 4. It consists of a straight tough wire of such size as to fill the throat t, secured by a screw-clamp, O to avertically-sliding block, B This block moves in guideways between the-uprigh ts D D, being raised bya'cam, O, and thrown down by acoiled spring, G, contained within a semi-cylindrical casing, 1 placed upon the front of this machine. ofi's'et, H, formed on the block B and its other end surrounds a core, M, which engages with a threaded rod, F, whereby the tension of the spring may be adjusted. By this construction I bring the end of the spring near the point where the power is applied and avoid the ungainly tower-shaped structure generally used.

It will be seen that by this arrangement the nails are held in the grasp of some part of the mechanism during nearly the entire passage from the rear end of the raceway into the boot.

As they stand in the raceway they are held by their wetlging sides, their parallel faces being toward front and rear. After the nail enters One end of the spring rests upon an nail as the latter stands vertically.

the slotf it is still held in the same position by the pressure of the nailsbehind it, and by the action of the ejectorit is held in the throat of the machine, still in the same position, until the driver operates. This is a very important feature, from the factthat if the nail turnspartly, or even a little, the oblong heads or ends will be set in difterentdirections, thereby presenting a very irregular appearance, so clumsy and unworkmanhke as to seriously damage it not preventthe sale of the goods.

By this invention the above objection can be wholly obviated. 1t happens,.however, that in certain classes of work--su'ch as brassworkitissometimesdesirablctoimpartsome peculiar shape to the head of the nail. To. ac-

complish this I place in the throat of the machine a small swaging-die, 2, (see Fig. 5,) having an orifice of any required shape, and of such size as to admit the point and a portion of the body of the nail, as shown in Fig. 5. When the driver descends it forces the nail through this die, which has cutting-edges l 1, and thereby draws or swagcs the head of the nail into the required shape. In Figs. 6 and 7, l have shown ditferent forms of die,'and as the swage 2 is removable, being simply threaded and screwed into place by a nut, n, the die may easily be removed and a different one inserted. This device may also be used to trim the heads of the iron nails into regular shape, I

this being a second method of obviating the objections caused by the turning of the nail.

in separating the nails by means of the plate P, when the foremost nail in the raceway enters the slotf it stands therein with one of its flat faces against the steel plate P upon which the plate P moves. eled or flared outwardly at top and bottom, as shown in Fig. 1. so that the nail will tend to The slot f is bevhug the plate P and to permit the ejector to readily push the nail out of the slot.

A cushion of any suitable material may be placed beneath the offset H to deaden theimpact of the sliding block B, as shown at t'.

A modification ot' the separating devices is shown in Figs. 11 and 12. Instead of a. vertically-movingslotted plate, I may use a laterally-reciprocating plate, P actuated by a vertically-moving bar, T, having an inclined slot,

S which engages with a pin or stud, 8*, on

the plate. The plate P is placed against the endot the right-hand raceway-plate and moves in suitable supports. In this modification the throat t, through which the nails are driven, instead of being in'the same vertical plane with the raceway, is placed just at its left hand, as seen in Fig. 12.

The mode of operation is as follows: The

edge 0 ofthe plate P is slightly inclined, so

as to be parallel with the wedging side of the As the slide T comes down, its inclined slot S drives the plate P forward until its edge strikes the foremost nail in the string, which has emerged from the raceway and stands upon its point,

being supported on three sides by the nail in rear of it, by the edge of the separating-plate P, and by the plate (not shown) in frontot' the latter. The plate P carries the nail toward the left a distance about equal to the width of a singlenail. Here the point enters the throat t and falls by its own gravity until the nail rests upon the leather which is being fed beneath the throat-piece t Except the separating mechanism just described, the parts shown in Figs. 11 and 12 do not substantially differ from matter which has been heretofore described.

I am aware that alaterally-reciprocating separator-plate, broadly, is not new, nor a separator which receives a nail in a slot, nor the combination, broadly, with a slotted separating-plate, of an ejector, such subject-matter being shown and claimed in my patent of May 24, 1e81, No. 242,061.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. The combination, with the plates M,forming a raceway, of a plate having its face hearing against the forward ends of said plates, and provided with a Vertical slot of such size as to receive a single nail, said slot being in the same vertical plane with the raceway, feeding devices for advancing the nails in said raceway, and mechanism, substantially as described,for imparting vertical reciprocation to the slotted plate, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination, with a vertically-moving separator having a slot to receive the nail, of an ejector adapted to push the nail trom said slot into the throat of the machine and hold it there until the stroke of the plunger, said ejector being thrown into the slot by springs, and withdrawn therefrom by the lower end of the slot bearing against its beveled edge, upon the upward movement of the plate, substantially as and tor the purpose set forth.

3. The combination, with the plunger or driver, and the device by which it is carried, of a spiral spring inclosrd within a case upon the forward end of the machine, the lower end of said spring resting on an offset formed upon the lower end of the block carrying the driver, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. The combination, with the finger-bars R R and their carrier-plates, of disks set upon the shafts which operate the fingers, each disk having a plate sliding therein and forced outward by springs, and provided with a flanged end curved to coincide with the periphery of the disk, said flange being adapted at each rotation to bear against the nails in the raceway, in conjunction with an oppositely-arranged rotating disk, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. The combination, with the slotted plate P, of the ejector a, the point of said ejector being beveled, substantially in the manner and for the purpose described.

6. In a machine for driving headless nails, the combination, with the driver, of the swaging-die placed in the nose of the machine, and having drawing or cutting edges which draw or shape the 'end of the nail as it is forced through the die by the driver, substantially as and for the purpose described.

7. The combination, with the nailing mechanism. of the die 2, having lips 1, said die being screw-threaded and provided with a nut, at, whereby it may be secured in place or a different (lie substituted, substantially as and for the purpose described.

8. The combination, with the finger-bars R R, of rotating disks mounted on the shafts which actuate the fingers, and set in cavities formed in the carrier-plates Baa sliding plate, F mounted in each disk, and spiral springsf, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

SAMUEL SHEPHERD.

Witnesses ANNIE N. TILDEN, L. L. TILDEN. 

